The Core

THE CORE

Welcome to our new blog! I'm Steve Sewell, PGA Golf Professional and instructor at The Golf Place golf simulators in New Bern and Taberna Country Club also located in New Bern. I hope you are as excited as we are toward educating golfers: beginners, veterans, seniors, men, ladies, kids, those of us who are physically challenged, or anyone who has an interest toward playing golf.

Golf is not the most difficult thing you've ever learned; it often seems that way to those who have struggled with this wonderful sport, but the struggle is usually due to a lack of professional instruction! In high school and college so many of us played sports, went to daily practices and games, and improved, but when it came to golf, we bought clubs and started without the benefit of any professional input. How often have I instructed students who demonstrated poor golf habits and required more time than the beginning student who has the advantage of no bad or preconceived swing thoughts?

On to instruction regarding the core: the turn, pivot, transition, horizontal plane, merry go round or coil & uncoil, these all suggest our body turn, or use of the core. Activation of the core is often compared to throwing a medicine ball, and rightly so. If we envision an athlete throwing a ball, boxer delivering a punch or tennis player hitting a shot, we're thinking of the core and its use as a source of power while acting as the anchor to the vertical plane, which I will address in another article soon.

The following instruction is offered from the right handed golfer's perspective. Specifically, to begin the backswing, we rotate our right hip approximately 3 inches back, thereby activating the core. By doing so, we feel the bulk of our weight transfer to the right foot. Weight should be ON the right foot, not forcing it out over the outside of the foot; we want a strong position that is athletically prepared to deliver part two of the core movement forward. Next we initiate our swing toward the target by turning the right hip completely forward toward the target about 9 inches, which should result in almost all our weight transferring onto our left foot, with right knee under our hip and right hip under our shoulder, same as we stand in everyday life. The 9 inch move from back to target is often called the "delivery or transition". By ending in this "pose" position we are exhibiting a full transition of weight down the target line, full release of two large power sources and commitment to balance. Good balance usually reflects good coordination!